“Wout was only called up at the very last moment" - Visma & Van Aert see positives despite missing out at ADAC Cyclassics Hamburg 2025

The best Team Visma | Lease a Bike and Wout van Aert could manage this Sunday afternoon at the 2025 ADAC Cyclassics Hamburg was a 10th placed finish as Irish national champion Rory Townsend took a shock victory from the breakaway. Given the circumstances though, Visma see plenty of reason to be positive in Van Aert's performance. 

Townsend claimed a sensational victory in Hamburg, winning from a determined breakaway in a nail-biting finale. The Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team rider, formed part of an early four-man escape group alongside Dries De Pooter, Johan Jacobs, and Nelson Oliveira. Despite a strong chase led by major teams like Alpecin-Deceuninck and UAE Team Emirates - XRG, the breakaway showed remarkable resilience, repeatedly re-extending their lead throughout the race.

The decisive moments came on the steep Waseberg climb, where the peloton splintered and favourites like Jonathan Milan were dropped. As the race entered its final 10km, the breakaway's advantage dwindled to mere seconds, but Townsend, Jacobs, and Oliveira dug deep to stay clear. In the final kilometre, Townsend launched a perfectly timed sprint to hold off a charging peloton, securing the biggest win of his career ahead of Arnaud De Lie and Paul Magnier.

“Wout was only called up at the very last moment," noted Team Visma | Lease a Bike's head of racing Grischa Niermann in comments collected from a post-stage press release on the Visma website, putting Van Aert's 10th placed finish into some context. "He rode really well and finished in the first group, even with a tough Tour de France still in his legs.”

The other Visma rider that would usually fancy their chances on a day like this, Christophe Laporte, was himself returning to action for the first time in 10 months and as such, Niermann was in a positive mood about the Frenchman too. “Christophe was doing his first race in a long time, so it’s perfectly normal that he didn’t have a super feeling yet. Overall, the boys rode a good race,” he concludes his assessment.